We already know that eating meat is environmentally unsustainable, so why not get all our protein from insects?

Does the idiot author somehow think that 1) insects are not "meat", and that 2) farming them in quantities sufficient to feed the human population will not involve the same environmental issues as farming vertebrates?

Yeah, I can see this winning astronauts over. Stuck in a tin can for months, hurtling through space, homesick and what do you have to eat? Printed food made from bugs! That's good for morale. Especially when you see video communications from back home of the scientists at their stations, talking to you while they are chowing down on pizza from that place you love down the street.

I think the biggest obstacle for long manned space flight won't be food, oxygen or water. It will be making sure the astronauts don't go insane from being in what is basically solitary. Step one will be making the shuttles as home like as possible. And best way to do that is with the food. It's called "comfort food" for a reason. A bowl of mac'n'cheese just like mom used to make might settle an astronaut in ways no anxiety pill can.

Feeding the crew could be done in a manner conceptually similar to the proven method of fueling the spacecraft: staging. Just as the spacecraft begins with multiple stages and returns with just a capsule, cannibalism would reduce the crew to a minimum compliment over the course of the mission.

So I see a system that will help with space travel if it works (they haven't tried building it yet). But then they talk about feeding more people than we can today and it becomes entirely science fiction - you don't get more efficient output by increasing the amount of energy input. And they don't seem to understand that's a problem they'll never get around since they're using a gadget instead of just grabbing some things and cooking them like a normal person.

Nem Wan:Feeding the crew could be done in a manner conceptually similar to the proven method of fueling the spacecraft: staging. Just as the spacecraft begins with multiple stages and returns with just a capsule, cannibalism would reduce the crew to a minimum compliment over the course of the mission.

Jacob_Roberson:So I see a system that will help with space travel if it works (they haven't tried building it yet). But then they talk about feeding more people than we can today and it becomes entirely science fiction - you don't get more efficient output by increasing the amount of energy input. And they don't seem to understand that's a problem they'll never get around since they're using a gadget instead of just grabbing some things and cooking them like a normal person.

We might very well reach a point where the "gadget", powered by a field full of cheap photovoltaics, produces more than the same field covered with grass and cows. Heck, given the relatively low efficiency of photosynthesis, it might outproduce a field full of human-edible grains or fruits.

So I see a system that will help with space travel if it works (they haven't tried building it yet). But then they talk about feeding more people than we can today and it becomes entirely science fiction - you don't get more efficient output by increasing the amount of energy input. And they don't seem to understand that's a problem they'll never get around since they're using a gadget instead of just grabbing some things and cooking them like a normal person.

so you dont use a gadget like a stove to cook your food and use energy in the process? maybe even messing with it a little, being all in-efficent and human?

bugs take less energy to farm (in theory) and the act of processing them would likely take less energy then working with full livestock as well. are you trying to say that running a few motors to print paste is going to take more energy then an electric stove?